Waltzing O'Driscoll

The Gabba, Brisbane, 30 June 2001. The British and Irish Lions are playing Australia, the reigning world champions, in the first of a three-test series. The Lions are leading 12-3 early in the second half. A lean 22-year-old from Dublin picks a perfect line through a rapidly dissolving Australian defence. As they follow the blur of dancing boots and body swerves, followed by a majestic glide to the line, the Lions supporters in the crowd are already composing the first stanza of Waltzing O'Driscoll. Stuart Barnes, in his television commentary, is moved to say 'in Ireland they call him God: but I think he's better than that'.

Brian Gerald O'Driscoll was born on 21 January 1979: some say angels and magi were involved but I would not be so blasphemous. There is no doubt that he has been the most significant northern hemisphere rugby player of the last ten years, but as a supporter of a nation other than Ireland my relationship with his greatness has been ambivalent over the years. The heart sinks on the morning of an Ireland/Wales or Ireland/England match when '13. O'Driscoll' leaps out of the page or screen. That's one of the reasons why Lions tours are so special; they give the British or Irish rugby fan the opportunity to adopt the greats of the other home nations once every four years, when the red shirts roll into the backyard of one of the southern hemisphere rugby giants.

O'Driscoll's importance to the cause cannot be overestimated. He does things that, even in the modern game, you don't expect centre-threequarters to do. Yes, you would expect the piledriver tackles, the bursts of speed and even the hint of what the great Bill Mclaren used to call 'the will-o-the-wisp'. But it is his ability to appear from nowhere, like the shopkeeper in Mr Benn, that is most notable. Perhaps he really is supernatural. People used to say of the English World Cup-winning footballer Martin Peters that he 'ghosted' into the penalty box: O'Driscoll does the same at the fringes of the ruck (and why do rucks have fringes? A seemingly effeminate adornment for such an intensely masculine contest). An Irish forward drive culminates in a dive over from a metre out, but when the pile of green shirts peels away it does not reveal a gnarly forward lying on the ball. Rather, it is the number 13 that catches the eye; unlucky for whom? Not the great man wearing the shirt, or his team mates  that's for sure. He pops up all over the back line as if matter-transported from one part of the pitch to the next. Underpinning all of the talent and skill is the fact that, even now, at the age of thirty-two, the intense desire to win is undimmed. The manic chase to keep a ball in play that had been hacked forward against the Combined Country XV is a case in point. Even though the match was won, and O'Driscoll needed to avoid injury for the coming battles, he sprinted half the length of the pitch like an over-muscled greyhound before lunging at the ball, narrowly failing to keep it in play and equally narrowly avoiding a serious knee injury. This desire for absolute perfection marks out the sporting immortals from the merely talented.

O'Driscoll is now involved in his fourth tour with the great institution that is the Lions. The first of these was the aforementioned tour of Australia, where he came through unscathed but the Lions came up short in the series in the face of Aussie skulduggery (elbow in the face of Richard Hill). This was followed, in 2005, by the winless series in New Zealand where BoD was unceremoniously spear-tackled by Tana Umaga and Kevin Mealamu in the first test. This resulted in O'Driscoll missing the rest of the series. Then, four years ago in South Africa the Lions once more came close to winning the series. Once again injury to O'Driscoll, and his immense Welsh centre partner Jamie Roberts, had a huge bearing on the result of the series. Even so, it took a last minute penalty for the hosts to finally overcome a brave and talented Lions team in the second test.

Now, O'Driscoll's in the thick of it again. The ageing frame has been wrapped in cotton wool by the Lions management after a couple of games to ensure that he runs out with his team mates on Saturday; once again the venue will be Brisbane, albeit at the more intimidating Suncorp Stadium rather than the Gabba. Partnered this time by another Welshman, Jonathan Davies, his presence in the back division will give the Australian coaching staff extra food for thought. In contrast to his giant back-line colleague George North, who the Aussies will know is coming by watching the water sloshing about in the touchline water bottles with every pounding footstep, the men in gold (tip: when talking to Aussies say yellow; it really annoys them) will need an extra pair of eyes to keep track of O'Driscoll. Perhaps they could add a soothsayer to their coaching staff so that they can predict his movements.

Whatever the outcome of this series it will probably be O'Driscoll's swansong on the world stage: the world cup in 2015 looks beyond him; but who knows? As the three-test series approaches, one can only hope that Brian goes waltzing into the sunset with his first Lions series win tucked in the back pocket of his dancing trousers.